• Price: $30 at Home Depot
• Recommended: for certain applications
• Also Available: LED candles from many makers are becoming available

Candles are a popular form of accent lighting, especially around the holidays. Recently LED candles have appeared on the market, or more precisely, LED accent lamps in the form of a candle. Designs vary somewhat, but most of the available models use rechargeable batteries, and electronics that flicker the LED gently to simulate a flame.

The rechargeable LED candle set under review is from Hampton Bay, one of Home Depot’s house brands for lighting products. You may find this set elsewhere under a different label, but the Hampton Bay mark is a Home Depot brand. the set retails for just under 30 dollars, and includes a charging base and three polyethylene candles that contain an LED assembly. The LED assembly consists of magnetically-coupled charge circuit, plus two 1.2V NiMH batteries and an LED with the electronics to make it flicker. There are no exposed electrical connectors on the candles, which makes them usable as outdoor lighting even in wet conditions. The charge stand uses a transformer to connect to the mains and must remain indoors.